THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 6

(Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD 6

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

Continued:

    German Emperor Frederick Barbarosa was compelled to seek reconciliation with Pope Alexander III. An interview took place between the two at Venice in 1177, and it is related that when the Emperor kissed the feet of the Pontiff he placed his feet on the Emperor’s neck. Apostrophizing himself in the language of the Scripture: “You shall tread upon the adder and the lion.” It was this same Pontiff also who first gratified the pride of the Roman clergy by parading the streets of Rome, having his horse led by two powerful monarchs, Emperor Henry of England and Louis of France, who reverently held the bridle while the Pope rode to his habitation.

  While Pope Celestine III was performing the ceremony of coronation for the Emperor Henry VI with all the usual solemnities, on the monarch’s bending of his knees before the Pop e, the proud Pontiff rudely kicked off the crown which he had just placed on the Emperor’s head, to show that he could, with equal ease, confer crowns and take them away, an instance of audacity to which history hardly furnishes a single parallel. To such a perfect contradiction had the Pope arrived of the example of Him whom they pretend to represent and who emphatically said: “Learn of me, for I am meek and humble in my heart.”

     Time fails us and space does not permit us to inscribe the details concerning “The Holy Inquisition” or the ecclesiastical tribunal established in the thirteenth century by Popes Honorius II, Gregory IX, and Innocent IV to try the heretics. Nor can we fully describe the terrible persecution of the Albigensians and the Waldenesians in which no fewer that a million lives were sacrificed, and thousands who escaped the sword were compelled to flee from the homes of their childhood and endure the horrors of poverty, with new forms of persecution. Pope Innocent III said in his bull to the nobles and princes who would take up arms in the cause of destroying the heretics: “We exhort you to destroy the wicked heresy of the Albigenses, and do this with more rigor than you would use toward the Saracens themselves”, promising the murderers seats of honor in Paradise and the full remission of their sins. From 1233 onwards to 1687, the severities of the inquisition, imprisonment, torture and the stake, continued to be inflicted on the Waldenses, supplemented by occasional “crusades”.

   The most notable of these took place in 1418, under Pope Innocent VIII, when among other barbarities a multitude of fugitives – men, women and children, were piteously smoked to death in an Alpine cave. We cannot dwell, either on the massacre of August 24th of 1572, known as the massacre of St. Bartholomew, which took place in France, a tragedy which has no equal in ancient or modern times, and which is written in dismal characters upon the annals of the French nation, and in the history of the church of Rome. We need not stain these pages with the particulars of that awful slaughter of seventy thousand unoffending and unresisting victims, some bent with age and venerable with hoary locks, others too young to have even lisped the prayers of a “heretical” church, the rivers of France were dyed with the blood of these innocent martyrs.

 Rome received the news of the direful massacre with loud demonstrations of joy, and it was momentarily expected in the “holy city.”  Cardinal Alessandrian exclaimed joyfully: “The king of France has kept his word,” and Pope Gregory VIII decreed that there should be public rejoicing to celebrate the event. High Mass was performed with every circumstance of pomp and splendor, and ere the wailing of the widows and orphans of France crying to heaven for vengeance had died away,

The solemn strains of the

Te Deum arose from the choir of St. Peter’s, thanking God for the accomplishment of the most monstrous crime which history records, and worst of all is, that the Pope caused a medal to be struck in memory of the dead, bearing on one side, the likeness of his own face, and on the other an effigy of the destroying angels, surmounted by the inscription: “Ugonottorom strages – “The slaughter of the Hugenots.” 

To be continued

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 5

(Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 5

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

Pope Gregory and Emperor Henry IV continued:

    Because Henry ignored the Pope and his council’s decrees, the Pope became very angry and started by excommunicating the Emperor. There was dissatisfaction between the Emperor and the barons of his empire, that was to the advantage of the Pope, who addressed to the prelates and the princes a letter of advice, pointing out to them that this was the moment for electing a new sovereign.  In the same letter he referred to Emperor Henry, saying, if he were permitted to reign, he must be brought to obedience to the church, that he might “henceforth think of the holy church, not as a bond-maid subject to his will, but as a mistress set over him.”

  The haughty and indignant princes welcomed the Pope’s letter, and assemble at Tribur in the autumn of 1076 for conference, which was attended by legates from Rome who were men wisely chosen, and well trained for their task, Bishops from Germany, and barons from the whole empire, but Henry himself was not present.  The discussion continued for seven days; at last the council resolved that Henry’s continuance in power should solely depend on his reconcilement to the head of the church. If the sun should go down on him still an excommunicated person on the 23rd of February, 1077, his crown was to be transferred to another.  This sentence made the Emperor so completely dependent on his nobles, he had no choice but to submit; seeing no other way of obtaining relief, he determined upon a personal visit to the Pope, to beseech the pardon and favor of the Church.

     It was the depth of winter of such extreme severity that the Rhine was frozen over from November to April, and the road to Italy was in those days a bare track, often winding through the mountain passes, blocked up at this season with snow, and sometimes scaling the very ridge of the Alps, from which the snow never departs. . . . The emperor, himself on his hands and knees, slowly made his way from crag to crag. Not seldom the treacherous path failed them, and men were rolled headlong into the deep snow. The queen and her infant son were let down in the skins of slaughtered beasts, by means of ropes, and thus hardships which royalty rarely knows, the journey was accomplished and the imperial pilgrim found himself early in January, 1077, on the Italian side of the Alps.

     Upon reaching the Pope’s residence, he was made to stay for many days in the freezing weather, before the Vicar of Christ” would listen to a syllable of his petition. Ar last, after Henry was just reduced to the verge of despair, he received announcement that he should obtain absolution on one condition – his delivering up to the Pope his crown scepter, and other symbols of royalty, and confessing himself unworthy to bear the name of king, and above all that Henry should do penance in the castle yard before he should receive the pardon of Christ’s Vicar.  Finally the Emperor was permitted to appear before “his holiness”, the now triumphant and exultant Pope.  The gates of the castle were thrown open, and the royal; penitent stood in the presence of the haughty Gregory “From the terrible glance of whose countenance”, it has been told, “the eye of the beholder recoiled as from lightning.”  But the just Judge of the universe did not permit that cruel Pope to persist very long, with his misconduct.  Henry resumed his royal character, took up arms, and in October 1080, defeated and mortally wounded Rudolph, Duke of Snobia, who had been elected Emperor in his stead by order of the Pope. Then he went into Italy, deposed Pope Gregory and caused Guilbert, Archbishop of Ravenna to be elected Pope, by the name of Clement III, and Pope Gregory was exiled where he died.

To be continued

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 4

   (Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 4

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

continued:

   Pope Benedict IX became enamored of the beautiful daughter of an Italian noble, he formally demanded her in marriage. Her father, pretended to be willing, but said he could only consent on condition that the Pope would abdicate his office,  hoping that the throne of the church would fall into his own hands, and that he might sit on it whom he pleased. But Benedict, though in nowise reluctant to part with the tiara, was determined to make the sacrifice a source of pecuniary profit.  He therefore selected a priest, named Gratianus, who had acquired considerable reputation which had proved so advantageous as to greatly enrich Rome for being more than usually religious, and to him he sold the supreme office of church leadership. There was a party who wished for reforms in the church and they aided John Gratianus to purchase the office, in the hope that he would become their instrument in accomplishing these reforms. At all events, said Gratianus, by his own confession, bought the triple crown, and Pope Benedict consecrated with his blood-stained hands this hopeful successor of the Prince of the Apostles by the title of Gregory VI.

    But poor Pope Benedict was yet doomed to disappointment. The father of the intended bride, mortified at the failure of his own schemes, refused to part with his daughter. And assuming that the papacy was still vacant, he nominated another, John, Bishop of Sabina, under the name of Sylvester III.  And now Pope Benedict, enraged at the trick that had been played upon him, resolved to retain the supreme power of the church. He therefore, continued his abode in the Lateran and continued to style himself the most holy Pope. The world beheld in astonishment, three pontiffs at once, living in different palaces, and officiating at different altars in the papal holy city – Benedict performing priestly functions at the Lateran, Gregory in St. Peter’s, and Sylvester in the church of Maria Maggiore. “The afflicted church”, to use the language of that time wedded at once to three husbands, witnessed the celebration of many rival masses in the metropolis of Christendom. 

    We have limited space and cannot narrate all the horrible things that these spiritual combatants  have done. The wars between the parties, the shedding of blood, and how the swords crossed over in battle over the tombs of the Apostles and Martyrs is something terrible. The dispute was at last settled by Henry III who convened a council of bishops and clergy at Sutria. At this council, Gregory  presented himself in the hope of receiving the imperial sanction to his claim of popery. He was compelled, however, to confess that his claim rested on no better ground than that of simony, and he with his rivals received one sentence of deposition.  At the return of Emperor Henry III to Germany, he took in his train the three deposed Popes. The new Pope took the name of Pope Clement II. This unfortunate Pope and his successor Pope Damasus both died of poison.

     The dispute between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV is a long story to tell. This Pope whose original name was Hildebrand. He was the first Pope to claim infallibility and who ordered that the name Pope should be applied exclusively to the Bishop of Rome. He also was a champion of Papal supremacy over temporal sovereignty.  He abolished the marriage of priests which he called fornication. The dispute between the Pope and the emperor will be continued.

RJM Note: This is no small thing.  This Pope gives no attention to Holy Scripture and overthrows the  decision of the Lord who established marriage as a holy and beautiful, saying: “It is not good for man to be alone!” Then He made woman for him.  A married priest is not living in fornication, and St. Paul clearly blesses the married state of even a bishop. The Pope is the forerunner of protestantism, interpreting the Scripture, not as the Fathers, but to agree with their corrupted and  inferior minds.

To be continued

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 3

  (Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 3

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

continued:

     In the tenth century Rome was controlled by the licentious Theodora, her daughter Marozia and her son of the first marriage Alberic II. From 904 to 963, they placed their lovers and children on the  throne of the Holy See. In 931, Marozia’s son who acknowledges Pope Sergius III to be his father, and who was only twenty years of age, was given the tiara, and assumed the name of (Pope) John XI.  This profligate youth surpassed, if it were possible to surpass, his predecessors in his utter disregard, not merely of religion, but of the commonest forms of morality.  Truth, honor, decency – were all shamefully defied.  Hardly a vice can be named or imagined of which he was guilty. The gold and silver vessels belonging to St. Peter’s were given as presents to his mistresses and other companions in sensual pleasure.  The female pilgrims who visited Rome were decoyed to the Lateran and ruined; the treasure of the See were squandered away in gambling of every kind. The very show of divine worship was abandons altogether. Or indecently hurried through, and the audacious Pope did not scruple publicly to invoke pagan deities, and mockingly to drink at his revels to the health of the devil.

     Such was the character of Pope John XII, as portrayed by the Romanists themselves. Listen to what Dr. (Karl) Brandes, who is a Roman Catholic, says about this Pope: “In the person of this grandson of Marozia, the papacy was reduced to its deepest degradation, and Rome to its depth of dishonor and humiliation.” Finally this Pope was deposed by a Council for his licentiousness and other crimes, which would fill a volume, if we were to insert them one by one" and yet our brethren, the members of the Roman Church, unblushingly still call on us to believe that this wretch was a legitimate successor of self-denying Peter and Paul and as above all, that he was infallible.

Pope Boniface VII                                            Pope Benedict VII

     Pope Otto the Great was succeeded in 953 by two rival heads of the church, namely Pope Boniface VII and Benedict VII.  The opposition between them was absolute. The Pope of one party was the antipope of the other. What one authority decreed the other strictly forbade. Pope Benedict excommunicated Pope Boniface, and the latter returned the compliment, yet, both of them held the power of binding and loosening, ordained priests and bishops, and bestowed blessings as the Vicar of Christ, etc.

     One of these rival Pontiffs, Vicar of Christ and the successor to the fisherman St. Peter. Pope John XIX, had never been a priest at all; he was Duke of Rome and seized the Papacy by force. On his death in 1033, the Count of Tusculum elevated to the chair of St. Peter a boy of their family, not quite twelve years of age, and gave him the name Benedict IX.  

     As soon as this Pontiff arrived on the verge of manhood, he recklessly plunged into every species of debauchery and crime. No expenditures was too lavish, no act was too daring, that would serve to gratify his passions. All that has been related of John XII might be repeated of Benedict IX and the whole would not be told. The former was a voluptuary, the latter was a voluptuary and a tyrant. To licentiousness he added ungovernable fury and anger, and committed several murders with his own hands. The chroniclers of the age, wearied or disgusted with their task, are fain to sum up the catalog of his enormities in a few words by declaring that the details are too horrible to relate. 

To be continued

Retired Pope Benedict XVI declared that the Orthodox have everything but are wounded, because they do no have ME.

Supreme arrogance is not a trait of Christianity but of this fallen world.

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 2

  (Continued) Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD – 2

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

continued:

  The Roman historians are in discreet silence as to Pope Constantine who succeeded Pope Paul I, lest the opposition for the Popes, all infallible, should become too apparent. By the swords of the Lombards Pope Constantine was forcibly deposed, and having been cruelly deprived of his sight was shut up in a convent. He was succeeded by Pope Stephen IV.  This Pope summoned a council of provisional bishops to assemble in the Lateran Church, which abrogated all the decrees of Constantine, deposed all the bishops whom he had ordained, annulled all the baptisms and chrismations, and, according to some historians, actually sentenced him to be ignominiously scourged, and then be put to death – a decree which was executed by burning him in the nave of the church.

   The emperor Charlemagne owes much of his success to the Roman Pontiffs, whose emissaries sometimes prepared the way for his victories, but more frequently followed in his track and instilled the principles of obedience and fidelity. It was said that, “God has given two swords wherewith to govern the world, the one to the Pope, and the other to the Emperor”.  Charlemagne was not ungrateful for the support thus afforded him, nor slow to recompense the service. It was he who first set the example of compelling the payment of tithes to the clergy, which had before been a voluntary offering. He also decided to be crowned by the Pope himself. At the Mass the Pope anointed Charlemagne and placed a golden crown on his head, as the people declared: “ Long life and victory to Charles, most pious Augustus, crowned by God, the great pacifier of the Romans.”

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD

Excerpts from:

THE OLD CHURCH IN THE NEW WORLD

By Archpriest Basil M. Kherbawi

St, Nicholas Greek-Orthodox Cathedral

Brooklyn, NY

Published 1930

SOME REASONS WHY ORTHODOXY CAN NEVER UNITE WITH THE PAPACY

SYNOPSIS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

     “History pictures the Popes of Rome intoxicated by the wine of power, courting the favor of monarchs on one hand, and pandering to the superstitions of the people on the other. When Rome separated itself from the Mother Church and laid claim to universal supremacy over the whole church without any right whatever, the Roman Church ceased to be a spiritual community, and the bishops of Rome became much less the ministers of religion, either true or false, than a temporal king, forgetting their sacred function in the eager pursuit of Wealth and Ruling Power . . . 

    The absence of emperors from Rome gave the Popes the chance to establish their powers. They exercised the fearful engine of excommunication by which the consciences of the people were worked upon to believe that they must either be traitors to their sovereigns, or by disobeying Rome be cut off from all hope, not only in this world, but also in the next. It was by such means that the Popes gained the victory over the emperors.

SPECIMENS OF THE LIVES OF POPES

     Pope Formosus who succeeded Pope Stephan VI was before his election to the Papacy Bishop of Porto’ he was excommunicated by Pope John VIII. The election of this Pope was in direct contradiction to the Canon of the Great Nicene Council which forbids the translations of Bishops/ His immediate successor, Pope Boniface VI, was a man of such profligate character that Formosus declared that he doesn’t consider him a Pope at all.  Were these men, of such characters, the successors of St. Peter and Vicars of Christ?

     Not long after the death of Pope Formosus, a schism arose in the Roman church between his opponents and his supporters, and while one Pope revoked orders conferred by him, another, Pope John IX, in a synod st Rome, rescinded the decree of his predecessor, and reinstated those who had been ordained by him. Does this look like Papal infallibility?

   The history of the Popes of the tenth century is indeed the most revolting profanation of religion in the whole history of Christendom, so that it was commonly said among Christians that the end of the world was at hand. But German emperors and several German Popes in succession redeemed the Papacy from its corruption. But alas the Papacy had fallen back again, so that at one time three deeply simonical Popes occupied the Papal throne . They were so wicked that a writer of that century called them: “the wicked devils.

     The period between AD 1378 - 1417 was one of great schism in the Roman church.  There were two rival Popes, each of them claiming to be the true Pope; one of them resided at Rome and the other at Avignon – no one knowing which was the rightful successor of the “Prince of the Apostles;” each anathematizing the followers of the other, so that whole Western Christendom was under the ban of one Pope or the other. I wonder if St. Peter had any choice between the two.

      Pope John II and Pope Sylvestris both obtained the Papal office by bribery, as did Pope Vigilius.  Pope Sylvestius gave his allegiance to Emperor Justinian, and to his enemies the Goths at the same time.

Note: the sordid history of the Papacy has continued into the modern era, for during WWII the Papal Ustashi slaughtered almost a million Serbian Orthodox.

To be continued

NECESSITY OF TRUE DOGMAS AND UPRIGHT LIFE

 NECESSITY OF TRUE DOGMAS AND UPRIGHT LIFE

  As Orthodox Christians, we are constantly exposed to the teaching of the divine dogmas, especially each time we recite the Holy Creed and its dogmas: “I believe in one God . . . the Virgin birth, the incarnation, the crucifixion and suffering, the death and burial, the Resurrection, the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the heavenly Father and Holy Spirt and Lord Jesus Christ, the Trinity in one essence. 

  Orthodox Christians must all believe the same thing and  be dogmatically correct, for it is only in Orthodoxy that the dogmas, given us by God to keep and preserve, and they are the truths which distinguishes Orthodoxy from heterodoxy. They include dogmas declaring Christ as both God  and man, having  a divine and human nature and two wills. They include our belief  in  One God the Father Almighty,  in one Lord Jesus Christ  and the Holy Spirit, The Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and not from the Son. We believe that the Logos and the Spirit are coeternal with the Father who alone is unoriginate. These are critically important Orthodox dogmas. St. Nicolai Velimirovoc says:

   “If the dogma of faith seems to you to be tough food, you must first try to fulfill Christian moral dogma, and then the understanding of the dogma of faith will be revealed to you. The inquisitive examination of high things, without the effort to rectify one’s life, is of no use whatever.  At one time as group of Egyptian monks was considering Melchisedek, and were unable to come to any clarity about the mysterious personality of the ancient king and high priest. They invited Abba Copres to their place of assembly and questioned him concerning Melchisedeck.  Hearing this, Copres smote himself on the mouth three times and said: ‘Woe  to you Copres!  You have set aside that which God has ordained for you to do, and you investigate that which He does not require of you’  The monks were filled with shame and dispersed." 

            For Consideration , Prologue of Ochrid Vol.1 p59:

   We should all know and understand all dogmas concerning the Trinity, the Incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension, for without correct dogmas our faith is in vain, Christ is the truth who came down from heaven and we must all be lovers of truth, and haters of lies.   St. John Chrysostom clarifies the relationship of dogmas and behavior and the need for both.

 The Saint writes: ‘If we hold true dogma and give no thought to our conduct, we shall find this of no use; and also if we give thought to our conduct and neglect true dogma, we shall receive nothing useful to our salvation.  If we wish to be delivered from Gehenna and obtain the kingdom, we must be adorned from both sides, with both true faith and uprightness of life.’

SAINT BENEDICT’S HOLY SISTER, THE ABBESS SCHOLASTICA

SAINT BENEDICT’S HOLY SISTER, 

THE ABBESS SCHOLASTICA

   St. Benedict, as we mentioned earlier, had a twin sister, Scholastica, who had been consecrated to God from infancy.  It was her custom, once a year, to make a pilgrimage to the monastery to see Father Benedict the Abbot.  The man of God did not bring her into his cell, but would go down to meet her at a monastery holding not far from the gate.  On that property was a house, where the saint would come.  Their mountainside meeting place was actually half the distance between her monastery at Plumbariola, some three miles distant, and the men’s monastery.  She arrived with a few of her nuns, just as Father Benedict was coming through the gate.  For this particular visit, he also came with a few of his disciples.  When the siblings were together, one could easily see a striking resemblance between the two, now in their sixty-seventh year.  Their monastic habits were also the same, since her garb was modeled after that which her brother had established at Monte Cassino; a dark wool tunic with scapular and belt. On her head she also wore a coarse black veil. There was a great affection between them.  They were now the sole survivors of their family.  “You are grieved about something,” she said to her brother.  He remarked, “I was thinking of our sixty-seven years.  This century has been a troubled one; but there shall be more wars and suffering, far greater in magnitude.

    Brother and sister then conversed about the spiritual life.  They also gave praise to God as they chanted. When darkness set in, tables were set in different chambers; one for monks, one for nuns and one for the abbot and abbess.  Benedict and Scholastica took their meal together and conversed at table until it was late. After they finished eating, Father Benedict rose up and made ready to leave.  Scholastica then said, “Tarry longer, my brother.  Let us keep talking about the joys of heaven until morning.”  Benedict looked out the window at the sky.  It was very clear, without a cloud in sight.  He then said to her, “But you would not have me break the monastic rule, sister, would you? The sun has set; you must see that, I ought not to be away from the monastery at night. She then asked, “Could you give yourself a dispensation this one time? I am no longer young and my earthly sojourn shall soon come to an end. Do me this favor.”  He then asked, “And set a bad example for my monks” She quickly answered, “no, of course not. Let them stay also.  We should al l wish to hear you converse about God for the rest of the night.”  He asked, “The whole night? What are you saying?  There is time enough not only for me and the brothers to reach Monte Cassino, but also for your return to Plumbariola. Come now, walk with me to the gate.

     She made no response.  She then joined her hands and placed them on the table before her.  She rested her head upon then and engaged in earnest prayer and shedding an abundance of tears.  Benedict looked at her and became uneasy.  What is she doing?” he thought.  Suddenly, as she looked up again at him, there came a burst of lighting and the crashing sound of thunder that shook the house.  These phenomenon were accompanied by such a downpour of rain that Benedict and the brothers could not even step outside.  A cloudless sky a few moments earlier was now the scene of torrential rains and violent winds, accompanied by more thunder and lightning.  Father Benedict had never seen such a fearful storm.  By shedding a flood of tears as she prayed to the Almighty, this holy nun darkened the sky with heavy rains.  The storm began precisely when she finished her prayer.  The two coincided so closely that the thunder was already resounding, even as she was raising her head from the table.  When she lifted her head completely, the rains came.

     The storm was terrible.  Father Benedict perceived he could not return to the abbey, without introducing grave peril to his monks.  He then gazed at his sister.  He was upset and complained, saying, “May Almighty God forgive you, sister! What have you done?”  She gave him a simple  reply: “When I appealed to you, you would not listen to me.  So I appealed to my God and he heard my prayer.  Leave now if you can. Leave me behind and return to your monastery.”  But he was unable to leave. He was made to stay there against his will, since he refused to stay there voluntarily.  As a result, they kept vigil that night, from which both derived great spiritual benefit from the holy thoughts they exchanged regarding the interior life.

'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE JESUS CAME

'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE JESUS CAME

"Twas the night before Jesus came and all through the house

Not a creature was praying, not one in the house.

The family were relaxing at home without care

Not believing that Jesus would ever come there.

The children were dressing to climb into bed,

They had never learned to pray or bow their head.

And Mom in her rocker with baby on her lap

Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.

When out of the East there arose such a clatter,

I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash

Threw open the shutters and threw up the sash!

When what to my wondering eyes should appear

But angels proclaiming that Judgment was here.

With light like the sun sending forth a bright ray

Shuddering, I realized that this is that Day!

The books were then opened and an angel read, 

Jesus returned in glory judging the living and dead.

What good were my possessions and material wealth?

Vainly I wept, and hanging my head despised myself.

In the Book of Life where which was opened then

Was written the deeds of every single man.

Because I never knew Him He knew not my name;

I stood condemned having only myself to blame.

But all those whose faith and works were of light

Calling them sheep, He placed on His right

All others, as goats He angrily placed on His left side

And with them I in wretchedness and shame tried to hide

Then with the faithful He rose without a sound

While all the rest were left standing around.

Wailing and weeping, I fell to my knees, but too late;

Time had run out and thus sealed my fate.

Repenting and weeping were now not available to me

I was blind to the thought that this day I would see.

I stood there and I cried as they rose out of sight;

Of, if only I had been ready for this terrible night.

But alas, the worm of my conscience allows me no rest,

In the torment of Gehenna will I be with the rest.

Who never new Christ nor His Orthodox Church.

Never heeding the command to ask and to search.

Why, O why did I foolishly waste my whole life

This question cuts through me like a razor sharp knife.

I could have repented, receiving mercy and grace,

But having never run, I have forever lost the race.

In the words of the poem the meaning is clear;

The coming of Jesus to judge now draws near.

There's only one life and when comes the last day

Let's not be foolish, for then we will pay

WHAT WILL BE OUR EXCUSE?

WHAT WILL BE OUR EXCUSE?

THE SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN, AND 

WINTER OF OUR LIVES

     Whether we live in a multiple season area or not, we are aware of the differences between Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, and these seasons teach us many things about the journey of our lives. We were all given freedom by the Lord to obey or disobey, to do good or evil, to believe or not believe, to live in hope or abandon hope. Because our freedom is great, so are the  responsibilities which come with our freedom are great.

     In the Springtime of our lives we are usually lively,  active, alert and inquisitive, loving life and this  time of life is accompanied with vigo-rous youth increasing as we reach teen and adult ages.  Our many thoughts 

AGE BIRTH TO 29 YEARS
would be on professional careers or business opportunities, marriage possibilities and a variety of other things that youth contemplates. Our moral condition varies according to our bringing up  and the friends we choose.

      We increasingly become more mature, and usually by the time we reach about thirty years, having leaving behind ignorance and frivolity of youth, leaving spring we enter the Summer of our lives. By this time we are either married or are thinking of it, education is completed or almost, and we move on to other mature endeavors. Some will be employed in careers or businesses which they freely chose and strive to work diligently to achieve success.  The youth and Spring of our lives having passed and we now enter the Summer of our lives we have great expectations.  We may raise a family and we watch our children entering the world following our footsteps on the same paths. We soon see our children as they enter the Spiring of their lives and understand how the cycle of life repeats.

THE PRAYER OF JESUS CHRIST CONCERNING ETHICAL UNITY

THE PRAYER OF JESUS CHRIST CONCERNING ETHICAL UNITY

The Prayer

     “Neither do I pray for these alone, but for them also who believe on me through their word, that they may be one as you Father are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you have given to me, I have given unto them; that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me that they be perfected into one, that the world may know that you did send me, and love them even as you love me” (John 17:20-21).

The Meaning

    Our Lord Jesus Christ,  knowing the perfect ethical between himself and His own Father prays that it may be imparted to all those who shall believe upon Him through the word of His disciples and Apostles that they may be perfect  and blessed like the Triune God. “Neither do I pray for these alone, but also for them that should believe on me through their word, that they may all be one.”

      Nations that have been christianized by the papacy and protestants are excluded from this prayer of Christ, because Christ prayed for the unity of only those who believe on Him “through their word”, in order that they may be one, but of course this does not include those who believe through counterfeit teaching.

    How is the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father, and how can we be one with them?  Just what is this “oneness” ? The Father and Son are two free persons of the Trinity for they are one with each other through identity of understanding, through identity of will, and through identity of feelings of love and hatred. When two people understand and judge alike, and will the same thing, each one is wholly within the other. Whatever things the Father knows and wills and loves these things the Son knows and wills and loves.

And when all the faithful who believe in Christ, assimilate their own will and understanding and love  to the understanding, the will and the love of the Father and the Son, then all will be one, being in the Father and the Son will be in them.

   This ethical unity when achieved, will persuade the world that the Father sent the Son into the world. What is needed is not the unionism of ecumenism as the ecumenists assert. When the whole world including papism, protestantism, Islam, and all other religions, hear the Orthodox preaching of the Gospel and the Church becomes zealous for 

     Jesus Christ, and abandon their heresies and errors and enter the Church through baptism, then they also can respond to the prayer of Christ and  become one, first with the Church and then with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is the divine and perfect unity which Christ seeks for all His true followers, “that they may be one.”  This unity has no equal, for it is the natural divine unity of the Trinity, which is granted to man through the grace of God.  No human authority such as a Bishop or Pope can unify the faithful as one under them, nor does Christ pray for a flawed unity but for divine and holy unity, “that they may all be one.” 

      This perfect unity is observed in the Apostles, Saints, Martyrs and confessors , and it is what causes the Church to be One Holy Catholic and Apostolic.  Any one who has a different idea than the Trinity and the Church, disunites himself from the blessed unity for which Christ prays. It is said of such persons that they have their own opinions, and the word in Greek is eresia, or heresy.

ORTHODOX TIDBITS 4

ORTHODOX TIDBITS   4

     Although Peter was  martyred in Rome by crucifixion, he was not Pope of Rome

Proof: St Paul’s letter to the Romans:  

“I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also” (Rom. 1:15). /Paul preaches to his flock and not Peter’s nor does he include Peter in his greetings to Rome.  Note elsewhere Paul says that he would not preach where the Gospel had already been preached.

The sign of the Cross is powerful and effective.

A Father of the Church, praised in the fourth century the great veneration in which the sign of the Cross was held by Christians of his time:

    “More precious than the universe, the Cross glitters on the crowns of emperors. Everywhere it is present to my view. I find it among princes and subjects, men and women, virgins and married people, slaves and freemen. All continually trace it on the noblest part of the body, the forehead, where it shines like a column of glory. It is made over sick animals, over persons possessed by demons, in war, in peace, by day, by night, in pleasant reunions and in penitential assemblies. It is a question of who shall seek first the protection of this admirable Sign. 

What is there surprising in this? The Sign of the Cross is the type of our deliverance, the monument of liberation of mankind, the souvenir of the forbearance of Our Lord. When you make it, remember what has been given for your ransom, and you will be the slave of no one. Make it, then, not only with the fingers, but with your faith. If you engrave it on your forehead, no impure spirit will dare to stand before you. He sees the blade with which he has been wounded, the sword with which he has received the deathblow.”                                               St. John Chrysostom

        Orthodoxy has a history that goes back to the very beginning and for almost 2,000 years, our Holy Tradition has established four Divine Liturgies. The Divine Liturgy of St. James, The Divine  Liturgy of St. Basil the Great, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and the Presanctified Divine Liturgy. The western rite has never been part of our Tradition and does not even resemble any Orthodox Divine Liturgy, but certainly resembles the papal Mass. This is a modern introduction in the Church, in some jurisdictions.

     The Papacy claims to be built on Peter, the foundation,  and somehow they interpret this as meaning the popes of Rome are his successors.  This is no different than saying, there is a stick in the corner, therefore it is raining out. They add that every pope is Peter, or a foundation  and has universal authority over all Christians in the world, and as of 1870, he was voted to be infallible.  Christ never told us that a pope of Rome would be our absolute head and the source of His authority. Was Christ negligent forgetting to tell us something so important as this? We will show that it is  a myth.

Here is what Christ says about the sequence of events.

1.  My Father worked up until the present time.

2. And now Jesus is carrying out the will of the Father.

3. Jesus promises to remain until the close of the age, and later ascends into heaven.

4. Jesus names His successor who is the Holy Spirit, saying:  “The Comforter will come, whom I will send from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of me” (John 15:26).”  “At the time when the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of himself, but whatever he shall hear that shall He speak” (John 16:13)

5. Fifty days after the Resurrection on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and the Church expanded, spreading everywhere,  guided by men who were guided by the Holy Spirit.  

6. God the Father directed Abraham and his posterity, the Jews, sending the Prophets and promised the coming of the Messiah or Christ.

7. God the Son, took  flesh from the Virgin, was crucified, destroyed death and rose from the dead, 

and promised the Holy Spirit.

8. God the Holy Spirit came down as a rushing wind and fiery tongues filling the Apostles and then all the baptized with grace. He alone is the Ruler of the Church, and we all have this Spirit, relying on no man, but on the Spirit of Truth as Christ instructed us.

9. At no time was any man in charge of God’s work, for it was the Trinity who worked out our salvation, a work which no man could do.

PAPAL ANATHEMAS AGAINST EVERYONE

PAPAL ANATHEMAS AGAINST EVERYONE

WHY THEY WILL NOT COME TO ORTHODOXY

THEIR CLAIM: WE ALONE ARE THE CHURCH

Do not be blinded by their nice attitude!

Beneath the hypocrisy is the truth of the papacy

Papal Dogmas include not faith and morals but submission!

      “If anyone say that the Pope has only the office of over-seer or of manager,  but not the full and  supreme authority of sovereignty over the whole Church, not only in matters of faith and morals,  but also in the matters of discipline and of government of the Church throughout the world . . . let him be anathema.” (Vatican Council 1870)

      In 1964 the Latin-minded, Patriarch Athenagoras surrendered his own Orthodoxy, and  proceeding without authority,  he “lifted the anathemas”  against the papacy.  This was an empty gesture only for publicity, 1. because a Patriarch is not the Church.  No patriarch represents the whole Church.  2. Anathemas can never be lifted because they are always  permanent. They are issued against a heresy and wrong belief., which always remains a heresy and wrong belief A person under an anathema can reject his heresy and return to the Church, coming out from under the anathema which remains irrevocable. The papacy clearly shows its fraudulent intentions, for they know that they can never  lift their own permanent anathemas against the  Orthodox, for it beyond their authority.

  These anathemas issued by the Popes of Rome always remain in effect against all Christians of the world who refuse to commemorate, recognize, and submit to the authority of the Pope of Rome who fancies himself to be Christ’s infallible vicar.

   In the year 1870, (Vatican Council 1)  the Pope of Rome declared an anathema against everyone outside of the Papacy. That is, against anyone  who did not accept the Pope as the Supreme Pontiff, and infallible Head of the Church,  successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ.  They declared the Pope to be judge over everyone, but he cannot be judged by any man,  for they imagine  the Pope alone among men is being infallible.  The following dogmas of the Roman Church which remain are  unlifted anathemas against all Orthodox Christians. Assuredly they can never  revoke them, these dogmas being the entire foundation of the papacy which hold it up, and without these dogmas  the Roman papacy would collapse, and  fall into a crumbling  heap.

These are The Official Dogmas and Anathemas of 1870

They remain in force as long as the papacy exists.

   “ When the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals . . .  as pastor and teacher of all Christians . . . he possesses the divine assistance promised to him and blessed Peter, that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer redeemed His Church. If any one shall presume to contradict this our definition,  let him be anathema.”

   “If anyone say that the Apostle Peter was not appointed by Christ as the first and chief of the Apostles,  and visible head of the Church militant,  or that he received immediately and directly from Christ only honorary primacy,  but not the primacy of truth and essential jurisdiction,  let him be anathema.”

   “If anyone say that Peter does not have continual successors in accordance with the ordinance of Jesus Christ Himself with respect to primacy over the whole Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is not by divine right a successor of Peter the Apostle in the matter of primacy,  let him be anathema.”

   “If anyone say that the Pope has only the office of over-seer or of manager,  but no the full and supreme rulership of sovereignty over the whole Church,  not only in matters of faith and morals,  but also in the matters of discipline and of government of the Church throughout the world,  or that this papal authority is not canonical and immediate,  not only in regard to each and every church,  but also in regard to each and every one of the pastors and of the faithful,  let him be anathema.”

Dialogues with the Papacy are wasteful, foolish and a betrayal of Orthodox dogmas. These official Vatican dogmas clearly show the papacy's real intentions, the capitulation and elimination of the Church founded by Christ– Holy Orthodoxy. Holy Scripture forbids dialogue with heretics. Outside of Orthodoxy is desolation and wilderness.

THE BRAIN - THE IMMATERIAL SOUL -THE CONSCIENCE

 THE BRAIN - THE IMMATERIAL SOUL -THE CONSCIENCE

  The thinking of modern man has been affected  by psychologists and society in general  that the brain, which no one denies is simply matter, is the origin and only source of human ideas, cognition, memory, feelings and reason.  Most people do not realize that these very  things attributed to the material brain are actually immaterial.  But  the origin and source of ideas, etc. which are  immaterial cannot possibly be derived from the material brain. In fact anything that is not matter in man is necessarily spirit. All matter has shape and form and other attributes by which we identify them, such as wood, steel, gaseous, large, small, soft, hard, the human body,  etc.

    The  human soul is  the center of man, and it has three faculties, 1. the thinking or cognitive, 2. the feelings or affective and,  3. the deciding faulty which is the will. These three faculties are parts of the composition of man, but man is much more than these faculties. There is a breath of God in every man, and this makes each man responsible to Him who gave him that breath , for in that breath man was granted more than life. What God gave to men exalts him above all creation, but also causes man to be responsible for his thoughts and actions which is his  blessed freedom.   In Psalm 103 God speaks through David saying: “When you turn your countenance away, they shall be troubled; you shall take back their spirit, and they shall vanish, and they shall return to their clay”(verse 29) Death is nothing more that the Lord taking back His Spirit which is our life.

    The function of the brain is not well understood by scientists  and they are still trying to find out how it works. We are certain that 1. The brain is matter; 2. It cannot be the source of spiritual things. It is a control center,  directly and indirectly  controlling many functions in the body, and it is through  the brain that man communicates both to his body and to others beings To communicate spiritual things, such as ideas, the brain must be directed  by a spiritual entity, which is the human soul.

      Here is the account found in the book of Genesis describing man’s actual creation:  “And God formed man out of the clay of the earth and breathed into his person a breath of life and the man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). After God had formed man He added spirit from His Spirit and the man cognized that he existed, the existence of the world around him and God, who visited  and communicated with him  through the spirit, and His presence rendered man to be content and  happy.  Thus, man is body, soul and spirit with these three faculties, intellectual or cognitive, feelings or affections and volition or free will. It is freedom that elevates man, making him capable to obey or disobey, to love God above everything,  or if he chooses to become disobedient and  worse than the beasts. 

     Conscience is immaterial, and the word in biblical Greek or English means “knowing with”. If a person is honest with himself and listens to his conscience, he will hear a different voice than his own, sometimes it praises and often it rebukes, usually in a soft gentle voice. This is the voice of the Creator who has always and will always speak to men. St. John the Theologian speaks of the conscience within us: “Brethren, hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.  For if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts and knows all things. Brethren if our heart does not condemn us, then we have confidence towards God”                      ( John (3:20-21)

     If we live in sin and love sin, we will do everything to silence our conscience, which when rebuking us becomes annoying offering little comfort.  But the pleasure of sin can be more preferred than the rebuke of the conscience until eventually a person will succumb and  remain in sins. This is a miserable way to leave this world and go to the next life.  Shutting down the conscience is attempted  by loud and continuous music communication, entertainment, cell phoning, texting, keeping as busy as possible and trying to never be alone, seeking more and more pleasures. The conscience seeks to assist and help us to give up the sinful life and seek a good end and eternal life, so it is our best friend. But we have an enemy who whispers contrary things to us: He says:  Go ahead, try it, take it, nobody will know,  you’ll like it, nothing is beyond this life, enjoy all you can before you get too old. Encouraging us in our sins he keeps us in his jail, an unfortunate  prisoner unable to escape the bonds of sin.

   But thanks be to Jesus Christ, who by His death on the Cross, destroyed the tyranny of the Devil who has held us in bitter bondage. He established His Church to cleans and purify us, to free us and forgive our sins and to rid us of vices, replacing them with divine virtues.  Through His sacrifice on the Cross, He has made available to all, the cure for sin, which is in the Holy Eucharist after confessing our sins. Through the Cross joy has come into the world!. The Body and Blood of Christ deifies man’s spirit, nourishing and filling him with joy and exultation and a  source of joy to others. The Church Christ founded , wherein He dwells, has endured for two-thousand years , just as He promised, and will endure to the end. It is known as the Eastern Orthodox Church, the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

PROTESTANTISM IS ANCIENT HERESY

PROTESTANTISM IS ANCIENT HERESY

Condemned by the Church in Fourth Century

    The doctrine that divides Protestantism also unites them in the same ancient heresy. This heresy was held by the Acephalites and was called the Severian heresy. This heresy is exactly what most 

Protestant sects practice to this day. They are without excuse for they know that they are outside the Church and instead of returning they follow the Severians.

This heresy held: 

1. that the Church does not need bishops, priests, or deacons.

2. that each man is his own bishop and priest,

3. that each have the right to interpret the Holy Scripture in his own way. 

4. that each can teach others as he himself understands and believes. 

     The Church condemned this heresy and man made doctrine in the 4th century AD. 

     Thus the Church condemned the Protestant movement a thousand years before it came into existence as a loud protest against the iniquities and tyranny of the popes of Rome..

     They also ally themselves with the arch-enemies of Christ and the Church being iconoclasts, that is, against honoring sacred images and the Cross.

     They do not honor what Christ honors, the Saints, the Apostles, the Church Fathers, the Martyrs since the beginning, the Theotokos and Virgin Mary, on whom they heap dishonor. 

     There is nothing new under the Sun and most heretical doctrines were dealt with in the first Seven Ecumenical Synods of the Church.

BEHOLD! THE POISONOUS ROOT OF ECUMENISM!

BEHOLD!  THE POISONOUS  ROOT OF ECUMENISM!

HIS EARNEST DESIRE WAS TO DESTROY ORTHODOXY 

PATRIARCH ATHENAGORAS

      Athenagoras the Ecumenical Patriarch, who died in 1972,  instead of defending the sacred dogmas and canons, as he promised to do so when ordained, he did the exact opposite, conducting intensive warfare against the sacred dogmas and canons of the Church and transformed himself into a  heretic* although in bishop’s robes. For he proclaimed things worse than any other heretic in history. With a few words: “The age of the dogma is past, he overthrows all the dogmas of the Church.  He proclaims that all religions are worthy and beneficial for mankind, which includes the worship of demons.  He stands opposed to Jesus Christ himself, saying the opposite:  “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Jesus Christ, the Logos of God is the Truth who came down from heaven. To believe and preach that all religions are worthy is poisonous to the soul and stems from the mind of one who has lost his mind!  

 Behold this man, Patriarch Athenagoras Ecumenical Patriarch, showed himself to be a betrayer who unashamedly insults Christ’s Church, but he exalts false religions.  Ecumenism was his creation, for he was not only  the founder and originator  of ecumenism and but he raised the fallen papacy to the status of the Orthodox Church, especially when he hugged and kissed Pope Paul VI as his brother.Today we see its bitter fruits, in the form of many who openly deny that Orthodoxy is the one true Church of Christ; the recognition of heretical churches as being true, having sacraments and able to save. 

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH LIKE HER HEAD IS BOTH DIVINE AND HUMAN

THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

LIKE HER HEAD IS 

BOTH DIVINE AND HUMAN

    The Holy Church is a society of men confessing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Godman, who is the Head of the Body. The Church is not organized with a power structure having blind obedience to a Bishop, Patriarch, or Pope,  but with the entire Body who have freely chose to be obedient to the commandments of  Jesus Christ, and who do His will. Christ alone has pre-eminence, and directly beneath Him, are not necessarily Patriarchs or Bishops, but those of any rank or no rank, who love Him with all their hearts and souls, and keep His commandments as proof of their love. The law of Christ guides all members throughout their lives, and they constantly rejoice in Jesus Christ crucified, risen on the third day and ascended into heaven. Truth of Christ is the rule of every  member, and is known through His words, and the words of His Evangelists, and Saints.

   The Church, like her Lord, is both divine and human, and, guided by the Holy Spirit is the continuation of Christ’s work in the world. No man, patriarch, pope, bishop, can be the head or man in charge, or guide of the Church due to its being a divine human institution.